A Complicated Appointment
by Hannah Lynn McDonald
Summary: AU in the Complications universe. Jo has an appointment with Death and goes over his books. Inspired by and thought up by Kythe42.


**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.**

* * *

Jo frowned at the door at the end of the dimly lit hall. She turned back to look at what was behind her, but saw only blackness. Turning back, she stared at the door again. The last thing she remembered was eating a meal with Hanson and Lucas in the Precinct while Henry checked the records for something on the case. Then Lucas had done something, and she had started laughing, and then coughing and then... Nothing.

Then she was here.

She stepped closer to the door, resting a hand on her sidearm at the same time. Cautiously, she raised a hand to knock, and then paused.

"Are you coming in or not? I do have better things to do today, Jo!"

She jumped back, startled. Narrowing her eyes, she drew her gun and jerked open the door. Crossing the threshold, she raised the weapon and let the door swing shut behind her.

"Who are you, where am I, and how do you know my name?"

The man looked up from the papers he was filling out with a bored and amused – and annoyed? - expression on his face. "Well, in order of asking or in order of importance?"

"Just answer the questions, please. I last remember being in the precinct – I need to know what happened to me and my friends."

"Very well." He stood up, buttoning his suit jacket as he walked around his desk. "But first, kindly put the gun away – it might not do me harm, but let's not give me reason to visit you at some point."

She tightened her grip on the gun. "Answer my questions first."

He raised his hands slightly. "I am Death, you are in my realm, and your immortal boyfriend often talks of you. Mentally and audibly..."

"Boyfriend? Don't you mean husband? And I'm pretty sure that I'm not dead."

"Oh, but you are! You choked on your food and neither Lucas nor Hanson could resuscitate you." He frowned, leaning towards her."Husband? You married Henry?"

"What?" She drew back in shock, dropping the gun a few feet. "No! Of course not – what makes you think that I did?"

He leaned back again, crossing his arms over his chest. "You corrected me when I titled him as 'boyfriend'..."

"He's not my boyfriend either – we're just friend."

"Of course."

She nodded, holstering her gun. Suddenly, she froze. "...Immortal?"

Death froze, and a faint trace of shock flew over his face. "Yes, I am."

"No – that's not what I meant. You said my immortal boyfriend, and if Henry was supposed to be my boyfriend..."

"Yes – immortal like a cat." He abruptly stood up and walked back to the opposite side of his desk, pulling out a ledger. "So, Detective Jo Martinez...choking...April 20..."

She tilted her head to the side, watching as he filled in the details. "So, that's where you record deaths?"

He nodded absently, jerking upright in shock and surprise as she snatched the ledger away from him.

"Jo! Return that to me immediately!" He reached for it, but she stepped back, glancing over the page..

"Wow, you're right... He has a lot of entries here. Drowning, choking, epidural hemorrhaging..." She turned the pages back and then froze. "1960." She looked up from the ledger at Death, who had sunk into his seat, shaking his head. "You didn't mean that he had many close calls, did you – you meant that he actually dies."

"Yes."

She shut the book with a snap, dropping it onto the desk. "It certainly explains a lot..."

"You may not tell anyone."

"Why?"

The amused expression dropped off Death's face and he stood up, looking many years older. "Because he cannot die. If you use this against you, I will visit you and return you here."

She laughed shortly, dropping into the chair across from him. "What difference does it make – I'm dead, and I doubt I'm allowed to hang around here until he comes back to yell at him."

He grimaced. "Well, about that... Henry does care about you."

She looked at him, waiting for a continuation.

"...And apparently anyone associated with the bloody nuisance is destined to upset my system as well." He waved her towards the door she had entered through. "Henry resuscitated you."

"...I'm going to live?"

"Yes. I recommend avoiding mixing mirth with sustenance in the future – but you will live." He sat down in his seat again.

She smiled. "Good." Standing up, she stepped towards the door, only to turn back and grab the ledger and the pen he had used.

Death reached out for the pen, but too late as she wrote in the book. When she was finished, he accepted them back with a sigh. There, in the next slot, she had written 'Henry Morgan killed by Jo for keeping secrets from friends.'

Death looked up with a small smile, only to see that she had already left. Shaking his head slightly, he added a date to Henry's newest death and then put away the ledger and the Death Blade.

* * *

"Henry! What a surprise!"

"Death, kindly do me a favour and assume that none of my acquaintances know of my condition. Wasn't once enough for you?"

Death smiled, ignoring the greeting. "So, how did she kill you?"

"Do you not know?"

"No, she only wrote that you were killed by her – naught else."

Henry sighed. "Kindly keep your Blade out of mortal's reach. And Adam's for that matter as well. And it was a stairwell – I accidentally tripped over her foot."

"How nice... But at least you needn't hide from her anymore."

"My condition? Perhaps not."

"Well." Death leaned back, smirking. "If you didn't want to meet her again after she met me, you should have resuscitated her."

"And leave Lucas blaming himself? I think not." He sighed, closing his eyes for a second. "Thank you."

"Well, as long as she doesn't die of tuberculosis like the last one did..."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Then it is good that I know the right people in high places."

"Oh, get out of here! Maybe you'll be arrested again for indecent exposure..."

Henry laughed as he left, and Death called after him: "And tell her not to come back!"

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_AN: So... If the Death Blade is used to write in the ledger, then the death is assured. Thank you for putting up with this and taking the time to read this. Gramercy, and God bless you!_


End file.
